The Sugar Pine Trail in Cuyamaca that climbs up to Middle Peak was once home to some of the grandest old pine and fir trees in the county.

Its namesake, the sugar pine, is the largest native pine in our region, sometimes attaining a height of up to 160 feet with a diameter up to 8 feet — “the current champion is 10 feet in diameter,” says the National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to Trees, Western Region.

Middle Peak, the third highest in Cuyamaca at 5,883 feet compared with North Peak at 5,993 feet and Cuyamaca Peak at 6,512, was also home to large stands of Coulter pine (with the largest pine cones), Ponderosa pine and Jeffrey pine as well as incense cedar and white fir. Coast live oak and black oak were also abundant.

Sugar Pine Trail

Before you go: Download a copy of the trail map for CRSP from the state parks’ page, www.parks.ca.gov

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Rules: Dogs are not allowed on state park trails; the Sugar Pine Trail and Black Oak trails are hikers-only. The fire roads, however, are open to bikes as well.

Trailhead: From I-8 heading east, exit at Japatul/Descanso, heading north on Highway 79. After about 14 miles, at a sharp S-curve in the highway, park at the Trout Pond trail head parking area off the road. Cross the highway and begin on the Marty Minshall Trail heading north, parallel to Highway 79. In 0.7 mile, head west and north on the Marty Minshall Connector Trail to the Sugar Pine Trail. At the Middle Peak Fire Road intersection, go left to return to the parking area. Black Oak Trail, east and west segments, would both take you back as well. When the Black Oak trails or Middle Peak Fire Road intersects with Milk Ranch Road, go left to return to the parking area.

Distance: I went a total of about 5.5 miles; the longest version going the entire Sugar Pine Trail to Black Oak Trail to Milk Ranch Road would be about 6 miles.

“The Cedar Fire destroyed 99% of the 26,000-acre Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, including 500-year-old growth pine forests in the vicinity of Cuyamaca Lake,” reports the San Diego Wildfires Education Project, produced for teachers by San Diego State University and the San Diego County Water Authority.

Fire plays in important role in maintenance of mixed conifer forests, like the one on Middle Peak, but it is advantageous typically when fire is frequent and of low intensity, when it has minimal effect on large trees. Some trees, like the Coulter pine whose cones usually don’t open to release seeds unless heated by fire, are adapted to or even require fire to reproduce.

“Prior to October 2003, much of CRSP had not burned since at least 1911 (when fire records were first kept) due to a policy of fire suppression in the park,” says the SDSU project. As a result, the increase in tree density and abundance of available fuel turned the Cedar Fire into a “stand-replacing, crown fire ... the largest mapped fire in California history.”

Climbing up Middle Peak by way of the Sugar Pine Trail reveals this stunning devastation. Almost all the trees are either gone or standing dead like ghost trees. The underbrush, however, has come back with vigor.

The trail leaves from the west end of the Marty Minshall Trail that parallels Highway 79 for about 0.7 mile. Here the grasses are so thick, the trail is sometimes obscured. I found it easier to walk along the edge of the highway, but note there’s no shoulder on the road so be careful of oncoming vehicles.

I began to search for the Minshall Trail again when I reached the old foundation of the former Lakeland restaurant that also burned in the Cedar fire. Heading west, you can pick up the trail just beyond that foundation; head north (right) when you find it. Soon enough you’ll see a signpost designating it as the Marty Minshall Connector to the Sugar Pine Trail.

The Sugar Pine Trail then heads uphill to the west (left), generally following an old road.

The trail winds uphill through those ghost trees and so much sugar bush, the latter frequently creates canopies over the trail and virtually obscures any other view. There is also a lot of poison oak, so watch for that.

At about 1.3 miles of uphill climbing, you’ll note an intersection on the left that heads to a red-and-white Caltrans sawhorse; this leads immediately to the Middle Peak Fire Road, which can return you in another 1.5 miles or so to your parking spot.

But I pressed on ahead on Sugar Pine Trail, winding another 0.8 of a mile up that hill through that brush, finally coming upon that same Middle Peak Fire Road. A post marker points the way to the left to the Black Oak Trail in just 100 feet from this intersection.

The road then comes to a T with the west half of the Black Oak Trail to the right and the Middle Peak Fire Road heading to the east half of the Black Oak Trail to the left. You could take either one of these routes; the Black Oak Trail, both east and west, emerges at virtually the same spot on the Milk Ranch Road, which the Middle Peak Fire Road also eventually intersects.

I went left on the Middle Peak Fire Road and wound my way downhill.

Views from the trail take in all the peaks — Cuyamaca, North and even Stonewall and you’ll also see glimpses of Lake Cuyamaca.

When you reach lower elevations, the oak trees seem to be coming back. While severe fires, like the Cedar, kill young coast live oaks, “mature trees have high fire survival rates, even with severe fire,” says the SDSU project. “Coast live oak sprouts from the trunk, branches and/or root crown after fire. ... A tree may appear dead a whole year after a fire, but may still be alive and resprout.” Canyon live oaks and black oaks also resprout.

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is site of a reforestation project that was the first of its kind to be approved for funding through carbon offset programs, conducted by the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation in partnership with American Forests, the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, SDSU and UC Santa Barbara. The fourth and final phase of tree plantings was completed in March 2012. I saw lots of Jeffrey pine seedlings in this program on the Stonewall Peak trail last month.